5 ms·

I am not a facebook user, how do they camouflage ads as posts from friends?

seattle_spring 9y ago
They don't. Every ad is clearly marked as "Sponsored post," and it definitely never shows up as being posted from one of your friends.
- wlesieutre 9y ago
  But they do slip ads into your newsfeed with a "Bob likes Soylent" header at the top. It's deliberately similar to how they display "Bob shared Soylent's post" or "Bob commented on this." Bob liked Soylent a year ago and has had no recent interaction with it that would merit showing up in the newsfeed. That particular one is funny because Bob swore off Soylent after a few months and just didn't bother to unlike their page.
  - ensignavenger 9y ago
    That could actually be a negative for the advertiser, and positive for consumers.. hey Bob, I noticed on Facebook that you "liked" soylent- I am thinking abut trying it too! Do you have any thoughts? Bob: Umm, don't, Soylent is terrible! Thanks for letting me know, I will unlike them!" Of course, not everyone will actually ask Bob for his opinion, but if I really cared about the fact that Bob liked something, and that was a factor in my purchasing decision, I would probably ask him about it, myself.
    - wlesieutre 9y ago
      In that case I don't mind it anyway because I like food and I'm not interested in their product. Makes the ads are easy for me to mentally skip over. As a whole, it really dilutes the news feed because half of it is actual "news" from friends (when they recently posted, liked, or shared something) and half is advertisements disguised as posts with my friends' endorsements written at the top because they liked NYT or KFC's page five years ago.
hitgeek 9y ago
something I've noticed in my news feed "John Smith likes Wall Street Journal" with the headline and picture from a recent article. It appears in your news feed like John Smith recently liked Wall Street Journal, or that article. In reality they probably clicked the like button years ago, and Facebook just continuously recycles that in your news feed, in a way that appears recent.
lemoncucumber 9y ago
Above the sponsored post from some company it'll say that your friends A, B, and C like that company (and I've heard that the definition of "like" is questionable, they don't have to have ever actually clicked the like button for that brand).
yodsanklai 9y ago
Ads appear on your feed among post from your friends with a similar format. They are marked as ads, but they are easily confused with regular posts. I find this very annoying and this is one of the main reasons why I don't use facebook anymore.
bonzini 9y ago
They don't, but if any of your friends has "liked" the advertiser's page, Facebook shows "Joe Smith likes Advertiser" above the ad. It's small print and cannot really be confused with a friend's post, but it does pretty much include your friends' names as part of ads.

They don't. Every ad is clearly marked as "Sponsored post," and it definitely never shows up as being posted from one of your friends.

wlesieutre 9y ago
But they do slip ads into your newsfeed with a "Bob likes Soylent" header at the top. It's deliberately similar to how they display "Bob shared Soylent's post" or "Bob commented on this." Bob liked Soylent a year ago and has had no recent interaction with it that would merit showing up in the newsfeed. That particular one is funny because Bob swore off Soylent after a few months and just didn't bother to unlike their page.
- ensignavenger 9y ago
  That could actually be a negative for the advertiser, and positive for consumers.. hey Bob, I noticed on Facebook that you "liked" soylent- I am thinking abut trying it too! Do you have any thoughts? Bob: Umm, don't, Soylent is terrible! Thanks for letting me know, I will unlike them!" Of course, not everyone will actually ask Bob for his opinion, but if I really cared about the fact that Bob liked something, and that was a factor in my purchasing decision, I would probably ask him about it, myself.
  - wlesieutre 9y ago
    In that case I don't mind it anyway because I like food and I'm not interested in their product. Makes the ads are easy for me to mentally skip over. As a whole, it really dilutes the news feed because half of it is actual "news" from friends (when they recently posted, liked, or shared something) and half is advertisements disguised as posts with my friends' endorsements written at the top because they liked NYT or KFC's page five years ago.

hitgeek 9y ago

something I've noticed in my news feed "John Smith likes Wall Street Journal" with the headline and picture from a recent article. It appears in your news feed like John Smith recently liked Wall Street Journal, or that article. In reality they probably clicked the like button years ago, and Facebook just continuously recycles that in your news feed, in a way that appears recent.

lemoncucumber 9y ago

Above the sponsored post from some company it'll say that your friends A, B, and C like that company (and I've heard that the definition of "like" is questionable, they don't have to have ever actually clicked the like button for that brand).

yodsanklai 9y ago

Ads appear on your feed among post from your friends with a similar format. They are marked as ads, but they are easily confused with regular posts. I find this very annoying and this is one of the main reasons why I don't use facebook anymore.

bonzini 9y ago

They don't, but if any of your friends has "liked" the advertiser's page, Facebook shows "Joe Smith likes Advertiser" above the ad. It's small print and cannot really be confused with a friend's post, but it does pretty much include your friends' names as part of ads.